Quinces are sweet-smelling, yellow-skinned fruit which are too astringent for most people to want to eat raw.

I hacked up a quince, and simmered it in some chicken stock + a little water so there was enough liquid to cover the fruit. Added powdered lavender flowers and a little hot pepper mix. Simmered for about twenty minutes (till the quince was soft) and added about 2 tablespoons of cream and some salt. (The stock and cream were from what didn't get used up in the Splurge Soup.)

The result is pretty tasty, though I might use less lavender next time. Or something else completely. If you like sweet fruit, I think you could do anything vaguely reasonable to a quince and get pleasant results. A lot of quince recipes include sugar and/or honey, but I can't see why. On the other hand, I don't know why people add sugar to sweet potatoes either.

The splurge soup lasted for 5 or 6 meals. It really doesn't tolerate re-heating very well, and I think what there was of the saffron taste faded in the refrigerator.

On the other hand, it did seem to cheer me up, probably more for nutritional reasons than extraordinary flavor. I'll be exploring more cream/seafood soups.

Back when chorale and I used sugar, one of our Thanksgiving dishes was yams or sweet potatoes lightly drizzled with maple syrup. We did use a little brown sugar also, but far less than the normal amount.